Sunday, January 5, 2014

The Kingfisher Caper (1975)

Generic but watchable, this drama about siblings
fighting for control of their family’s diamond empire was shot in South Africa,
which is also the setting of the story. The location and subject give the
picture a measure of novelty, although in most other ways The Kingfisher Caper—sometimes alternately titled Diamond Hunters—is quite pedestrian. The
acting is competent but passionless, the direction (by Dirk de Villiers) is
perfunctory, and the score is a silly mishmash of lounge-lizard slow numbers
and vaguely discofied upbeat jams. In fact, excepting such impressive
production values as the ship that’s used as a primary setting for the second
half of the story, The Kingfisher Caper
feels very much like a run-of-the-mill telefilm. Regarding the picture’s
paper-thin characterizations, make what you will of the fact that one of the
three leading actors is named Jon Cypher—because “cipher” just about covers
each member of the story’s dramatis personae. Having said all that, the picture
has just enough action and intrigue to hold the attention of casual viewers.

Based on a novel by Wilbur Smith, The
Kingfisher Caper begins when an aging patriarch receives a terminal
diagnosis, causing him to divide his empire between dutiful daughter Tracy
(Hayley Mills), ne’er-do-well son Benedict (David McCallum), and stalwart
adopted son Johnny (Cypher). The title stems from Johnny’s pet project, a
massive sea vessel called The Kingfisher,
which he’s equipped with computers and industrial equipment for mining diamonds
from the ocean floor via dredging. Johnny’s grasp on power is tenuous because
he only gains control over the part of the empire related to the Kingfisher, which has yet to make its
maiden voyage. Sensing an opportunity, the craven Benedict contrives to
sabotage the Kingfisher in order to seize
control of Jonny’s assets. (A deadline related to a bank loan provides the
ticking-clock element necessary to make all of this plotting work.) The movie
also features romantic elements, because Johnny and Tracy—who grew up together
but are not related—realize they have feelings for each other once they’re
faced with a common enemy in the scheming Benedict.

The storyline of The Kingfisher Caper is serviceable (if
a bit on the trite side), and it helps that darker textures including murder
and suicide complicate the latter half of the film. Still, a potboiler only
really connects if the performers add something special to the mix, and that
doesn’t happen here. McCallum mostly sulks through his scenes, while former
child star Mills (of The Parent Trap
fame) contributes little except being attractive in a girl-next-door way. Thus
it falls to Cypher to do most of the heavy lifting, dramatically speaking, and
he’s never more than adequate. To their credit, however, the filmmakers up
their game during the finale, a somewhat exciting action/thriller sequence set
aboard the Kingfisher.